A Life On The Road! “I’ll tell ya, I loved it, but it’s rough on your body, going up and down numerous flights of stairs all day, every day,” she said. “Zipping around Indiana neighborhoods, it was usually either really hot in those package cars, or freezing. That would have been enough for most women to say ‘I’m out’ but not me. It was great pay, great benefits, and it was great to continue growing with the company with the other hard-working men and women around me.” After nine years of delivering in the smaller ‘around-town’ trucks, a big-rig UPS driver, and longtime friend and mentor, Sheila, suggested she consider driving their “feeder” trucks – the big semis that travel the country delivering to the company’s package stations. “It was a no-brainer,” she said, again having no trouble with the 10-gear manual transmission her new “Buster Brown” 53-foot semitrailers and double trailers were equipped with. She drove those big-rigs throughout Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio 60+ hours a week for the next 27 years, and her CB trucker handle? ………....Trouble,” a nickname not related to trucking but coined by her dad many years earlier. Being on the road almost four decades, Shelly has quite a few good road stories. One that sticks out in her mind was during a big ice storm in the winter of the earlier 1990s. “It was a typical Indianapolis-to-Chicago trip in the early morning, just before sunrise, usually about a 3.5-hour drive. But I was on the road in the middle of an ice storm, and there were several accidents ahead of me, where all five lanes of traffic were dead-stopped. To prevent people from trying to drive around everything, the state troopers came over the CB asking all of us to use our rigs to block everything off so emergency vehicles could clean up all the wreckage.” Shelly said that even with all of their trucks blocking the lanes to prevent people from dangerously weaving through, several still tried to go around the sides and anywhere it was wide enough, she sat in her rig watching these people just slip, slide and crash into each other in the ice and the snow. “It was horrible,” she said. “Helping to create these road blocks for safety and still seeing these people dip and dodge, crashing into each other.” A trucker life is one that’s not built for the faint of heart, but it’s almost as if Shelly was made for rig-driving, during all that time on the road, she never had road rage, never even flipped anyone off. When you drive for a living …“You have to be a defensive driver, but a respectful driver,” she said. Trucker life is daunting, exhausting, back-breaking work – and it’s the lifeblood of modern society.” “The truck-driving industry is so vital to everyone and their way of life – wherever they are,” she said. “You really put your body into the job – I’ve had numerous back surgeries, knee surgeries, but without truckers, you wouldn’t have anything – food, supplies, novelties, clothes, whatever you want – it’s all brought to you by the truckers dedicating their lives to delivering what’s needed.” After finally deciding to retire, wrapping up 40 years with the company, Shelly now enjoys splitting her time between her lake home in Monticello, Ind., and her family’s beach home on Fort Myers Beach – in the Bayside Estates community. “I love Fort Myers Beach, been coming here and vacationing since my folks first moved into Bayside in 1982. Now they’re in their 80s and we still have fun boating and living the beach life together.” You can often see Shelly out and about on the island, taking a morning stroll along the shoreline, playing beach games and cheering on Ed the Sandman at the Lani Kai, or on what she and her friends call “The Circuit,” where they stop by some of the many great happy hours on the island, enjoying tasty treats at each venue. “We’ll go from the Lani Kai’s Island View to the Sun Deck and enjoy their specials, also Matanzas, Snug Harbor, The Whale and Times Square,” she said. “I’m very proud of my trucker career, it’s made me who I am today, made me very independent, and I’ve made some wonderful, longtime friendships along the way,” she said. “I was able to retire early, and here I am on Fort Myers Beach enjoying and loving life.” If you’re out and about on the island, keep your eyes peeled for Shelly – she’s sure to share a laugh and some road stories with you. To “Trouble” and all of the other trucker warriors out there, we appreciate and support you. That’s a big 10-4.... see ya on the beach! The Caloosa Carvers The Sun Bay Paper Page 12 February 11, 2022 - February 17, 2022 Cont. from pg 1 these talented woodcarvers provide the Mound House with hands-on educational tools for school groups and the general public. Here I Still Am Caloosa Carver John Franz initiated the Mound House partnership even before the museum complex opened to the public in November 2015. “I received an email,” John recalled, “wanting to know if we could present programs to create Calusa Indian replica exhibits. I met with the Mound House staff and several volunteers, and it looked like a good project, so I went back to our club to gauge interest, and Marge and Henry Robinson felt it was outstanding and jumped right in!” Henry adds that “the Mound House needed replica Calusa Indian ceremonial masks and I found that intriguing.” Carvers Chuck Cusson, Nick LoPresti, Marge and Henry Robinson, Larry and Mary Ellen Roslund, and Dick Turner demonstrated their woodcarving skills on a recent sunny but crisp Tuesday on the Mound House patio overlooking the scenic Estero Bay. Each came to the Caloosa Carvers in their own way. Nick, a retired firefighter, police officer, and paramedic from Chicago, explains that “my wife Connie is an artist and one of her artist friends was a Caloosa Carver member. She told us about this carving group and that caught my interest, so I went to a meeting and twenty minutes later, I was buying carving tools!” Chuck was “looking for a carving club to join so I visited several in 2014 and the Caloosa Carvers were easily the best. I mostly carve small birds; the fine feather aspect of that is delicate and I try to recreate those as exactly as possible.” Larry says that “about five years ago I thought I might enjoy carving so I went to a meeting, and this seemed like a great activity for my retirement. My grandfather actually taught me to carve when I was around eight years old, as he was a woodworker. You not only make things that interest other people but after a bit, you surprise yourself with what you can do! I made a few masks from pieces of the famous Mound House strangler fig tree that was partially lost in Hurricane Irma, and people bought them at Mound House auctions and that is quite a boost for my ego!” Henry read about the Caloosa Carvers in the newspaper and went to a meeting with a friend. “That was back in 2005 and here I still am! At first. I could carve odds and ends but nothing special, and over 15 years later, I am now pretty good!” Henry’s wife Marge soon followed. “When he joined, we thought it would be great if wives came along, so that is what we did!” Like Henry, Dick learned about the Caloosa Carvers from the newspaper. “I went to my first meeting and loved it! I like to work with my hands and woodcarving is perfect for that, as it brings me a lot of satisfaction. I actually started to carve when I was a Boy Scout in the 8th grade and stuck with it over the years, eventually working my way up to carving several boats.” Comradery! While woodcarving obviously drew each to the Caloosa Carvers, Larry sums up the club allure with one word: Cont. from pg 1 Cont. on pg 17 Shelly & friends, here at the Lani Kai, on one stop of "The Circuit,"
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